We've done it! The keen eyed among you will see that there's a new page added to the side bar, dedicated soley to yummy pics of giant crochet hooks.

These beauties have been made by my very clever husband, who made the original hook for my Big Hook book.

Mr Steel&Stitch is a mechanical engineer by trade, and
makes and designs things out of metal to shoot particles around in
(see, very clever). Not only is he the steel to my stitch, but he has
an extraordinary eye for detail and many years experience of making
things very, very precisely.

Most hooks this size just have a notch cut out at the top, because of Mr Steel's fanatical eye for detail, he's made each of these as a perfect replica of a traditional hook, so you get all the ease of use of a regular, just in 25mm size.

As an impatient maker that lives at the speed of an insect, driven by instant gratification, you won't be surprised to know that I've never made a jumper/shawl/anything bigger than a hat. The Big Hook stuff is great because you can make a whole blanket in six hours, but those massive stitches don't really lend themselves to wearable garments.

I've been working on an autumn/winter collection and have gone with the usual snoods, hats and mittens, but I know I'm limiting myself by sticking with the 'quick' makes. I have a cardigan in my head that I'm desperate for, a capped sleeve t-shirt in a camel coloured merino that is just waiting to come out, a monochrome, checked jumper with hot pink piping...

So I thought I'd break myself in gently by making a shawl. The South Downs summer shawl that I showed you a few posts back, where it's just playing with stitches and colours inspired by the beautiful South Downs. I've been making it alongside a whole host of other things, but it feels like it needs to be finished - before the summer is over and before I can begin on another 'big' make and tackle a t-shirt.

I guess everyone hits these points of frustration, or runs out of energy or enthusiasm. To get that energy back I took myself back to the Downs, and although the colours are subtly shifting in to the golds of hay bales and late summer, it really did reinvigorate me to get it made. Sometimes you just need to remember why you started on a journey in the first place - any journey. (A merino, camel coloured, fine knit t-shirt is a pretty good reason too.)

Wow, so running a competition on instagram is way more intensive than I'd imagined! I made a few pics to show one a day, and have also found and shared pics from different makers to give people chunky yarn inspiration. There have been lots of lovely entries, and an all round really positive response, but it's taken over my life!

The competition finishes tomorrow (6.8.15), so you've still got time to tag your chunky makes and yarn pics with #bighookcrochet, and win a copy of my new 'Big Hook Crochet' book and a discount on a 25mm hook from the amazing BQueen Collection.